Being that I am bi-vocational (receiving income from my work in business rather than as a pastor) I get a chance to be involved in the corporate world and the Christian world. It’s one of the things I enjoy because it keeps me from becoming “religious.” Maybe I should say that I usually enjoy it. Today was an exception.
I found some charges on my Bank of America corporate bank account that I disputed with the bank. My wife had initiated the dialog with the bank yesterday, but they didn’t honor what they said they would do, leaving us with hundreds of dollars in charges we were not in agreement with. So, I talked to a customer service manager by phone today. The person that agreed to rescind the charges was off work today, so I had to talk to someone else. Rather than just take care of it, I got the following response:
manager: I understand what you’re saying. If agreed to this, that is her call. However, it’s more than we are required to do.
me: I understand it’s more than you are required to do. All I’m asking is that you reverse the charges today so I can resolve some other pending issues. Then, you or I can talk to tomorrow and confirm that she authorized it.
manager: The charge is legitimate so I cannot help you. It’s more than I am required to do.
me: So, even though you have the authorization to make this right, you won’t do it since it’s more than you are required to do?
manager: That is correct.
Okay, so let’s get something cleared up. I’m not complaining that the manager on duty today wouldn’t resolve this matter for me. I’m just disappointed in his attitude towards the whole thing. I’ve been with Bank of America for over 10 years and had personal accounts with them for over 20 years. To have the matter handled the way it was, beginning with the error on the first manager’s part seemed really ridiculous.
It’s not like I did anything wrong here. As a long-time customer of Bank of America, my hope was that they would appreciate my business more than they obviously do. In my business, I would never, ever have anyone with this kind of attitude in management. Sure, there are company policies and guidelines, but even if an employee makes a mistake, it is my business to make sure the client’s position is considered and appropriate action is taken. Sometimes, situations lend themselves to doing more than is required.
I watched The Charlie Rose Show on Monday and Jason Kilar, CEO of Hulu was the guest. I have only used hulu twice and had difficulty trying to watch shows on my laptop screen (I’m used to the 42″ LCD tv in my family room with surround sound) so I don’t have much knowledge/experience with hulu. However, after watching Jason Kilar I am now a huge fan of hulu! Not necessarily for how it meets my needs, but for the business model they have undertaken and their humble attitude in all of their success so far. Kilar mentioned how he uses twitter. It’s his new google. He said that he uses search.twitter.com about 12 times a day and scans for every mention of the keyword “hulu” being tweeted. One specific response he discussed was that people will tweet about typos they find on hulu. Kilar will see this tweet within the hour it was originally posted and then immediately get the info to his CTO (chief technical officer) who will make sure it’s corrected. In real-time, about less than 60 minutes from the time it is noticed by the general public until it is fixed. The amazing thing about this is that this is the CEO of hulu doing this, not some hourly employee. Knowing the power of social media and how so much is dependent upon word of mouth these days, Jason Kilar gets it and I applaud him for it. Bank of America, on the other hand, obviously does not. As we say on twitter: #fail BofA!
I’m reminded of the story in Mark 2 of the Bible about some people that did more than was required:
1A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. 2So many gathered that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. 3Some men came, bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them. 4Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on. 5When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”
Just getting the paralyzed man to Jesus’ meeting would have been more than was required since he couldn’t walk on his own. There were so many there that wanted to be healed that it’s understandable that they could not make it through the crowds. However, doing more than required they made their way to the roof and lowered their paralytic friend down to Jesus. Bold…creative…ingenious…loving…more than required.
If Jason Kilar did what was required, we would all be forced to watch tv based on programming schedules. Hulu allows us the freedom to watch shows when we want, where we want. Kilar, whose background includes amazon.com, google and Microsoft was very comfortable in his career--a huge success already in most people’s eyes. However, he chose to do more than was required so that multitudes of us could enjoy more personal freedoms when it comes to media. Sometimes being a well-known company affords them some level of being comfortable, but it is the company willing to do more than is required that will be at the forefront with loyal client bases. From a Christian perspective, how can we be faithful like the friends of the paralytic in Mark 2 and do more than is required? With the power of the internet and social media, our actions will speak louder and reach more people than ever before. Please don’t blow your opportunities.
